Young Justice: The Series
by Max Bosis
Summary: In In a future where the Teen Titans have disbanded, villains run amuck. But even in the face of danger, one lone hero stands up for justice. But what happens when he realizes he can’t do it alone? He gets help from ‘justice’ himself—whether he wants it
1. Default Chapter

_My name's Nightwing, and I'm a Titan..._

The dark heroic figure known as Nightwing stood surrounded by a gang of thugs, all wanting a piece at the hero.

_I'm sorry. FORMER Titan... _

He quickly whipped out his stainless steel staff and stood in battle position. The thugs surrounded him, all gritting their dirty rotted teeth.

_The Titans had disbanded a long time ago, after the disappearance of a dear friend of ours…_

"Come on, Bird Brain!" shouted one of thugs. "Do you think you can take us on? The Mutants? We rule this city now!"

_The Mutants.__ A gang of thugs who terrorize our city. They make it hard to set foot outside the house…_

The Mutants were muscular thugs; some were short and stocky, but could still hold their own. They all wore multicolored Mohawks and spiky hair with red 3-D glasses over their eyes. They may have looked ridiculous, but they were quite the nuisance in Jump City.

_And I try to make it harder for THEM to set foot on my turf…_

It was dark out. Not even the light from the moon or the stars lit up the streets in which this battle was to ensue.

And that's just how Nightwing liked it…

"RRAAAAAAHHHH!" shouted the Mutants as they all leaped for Nightwing.

Quickly the Former Boy Wonder leaped into the air doing a black flip over the majority of them, whipping around and slapping them left and right with his staff.

Nightwing pulled out three disk shaped objects and flung them for 3 Mutants. The disks hit them, exploding on contact and freezing them in place. He then turned around to the remaining dozens and held up more disks.

"Who wants a taste?" he asked.

The Mutants stopped in their places and looked at each other, and back towards Nightwing's direction with puzzled faces.

"What're you loo…" Nightwing turned around to see what they were staring at, and saw them.

There they stood.

_Oh no…Not them again…_

There stood 5 costumed teenaged kids: The Ray, Empress, Slobo, Secret, and Impulse.

"Looks like you could use some help," said the boy known as Ray as he grinned.

"No need to worry, Pops, 'cause the new generation of heroes is here!" shouted the gray skinned Slobo, wailing his fists in the air.

_You've got to be kidding me…_

**Young Justice**  
These kids don't worry about changes…they MAKE them…  
Chapter 01  
Don't Flaunt the Youth

"Alright, guys," shouted the blonde haired Ray. His light blonde hair went along with his golden yellow and black leather jacket; he wore black leather gloves, white pants and black boots. "Let's take these Mutant scum down!"

"Why does that sound like something straight out of an X-Men comic?" joked the speedster Impulse as they prepared to fight. Impulse had shoulder length brown hair and wore yellow goggles with red trimmings; his suit consisted of large red gloves and a white jumpsuit.

"Who are those clowns?" whispered one of the Mutants.

"Dunno, but I got dibs on the gray runt," said a big muscular Mutant, cracking his knuckles.

"NO!" shouted Nightwing to the kids as they ran past him. "Stay back!"

He then stopped calling as he saw that they were not listening.

The young heroes all charged for the thugs, and at the same time the Mutants charged for them.

Five of the mutants surrounded Impulse and Slobo, the two heroes back to back.

"RRRAAAAAAHHHHH!" growled the thugs.

Slobo merely raised an eyebrow. "GGRRRRAAAAAHHHH!" he growled back.

"What's wrong?" asked Impulse. "Getting nervous?"

"Me? No way! I'm Slobo! But it would be a bit easier on us if we imagine them in their underwear."

"Why imagine?" Impulse quickly disappeared in a blur and moved swiftly and quickly around the Mutants, yanking down all of their pants and revealing their undergarments.

"Oh yeah, you kids are gonna pay for that!"

"We're outta here!" Impulse then speeded off while holding Slobo's arm.

Just as the Mutants were about to go chase them, a blast of light hit the ground and kept them back. This light came from the Ray.

Behind him stood a pretty young Black female; this was Empress. She had silky long hair, wore a brown and reddish leather jacket and tight leather pants with red boots.

Next to her stood the mysterious girl known only as Secret. She had short light blonde hair, a light tan leather jacket with white pants and tan boots.

"Give it 'em, girls!" said Ray. 

"These thugs are going to pay!" Empress then vanished in a poof of red smoke, followed by Secret transforming into a ghastly ghost figure of herself and flying off into battle, and Ray glowing yellow and firing blasts of light at the attackers.

Empress reappeared behind one of the Mutants and began drop kicking him. She quickly vanished again and reappeared again in front of two more and knocked them out with her skilled hand to hand combat.

"And I'm waiting for you to say some corny sexist line, bub," said Empress standing victorious over her defeated ones, not knowing that behind her was another larger Mutant.

Just then, Secret flew over to her teammate, flee through her body and landed a physical punch to the opponents face.

"I second that," added Secret in a soft, hushed tone.

"GUYS!" shouted Impulse. "Nightwing needs help!"

Everyone turned to see Nightwing backed into a corner fending off a dozen more Mutants.

Slobo punched another Mutant in the head and slammed two more heads together.

"Kind of busy here!"

"I'm on it!" Ray flew over to Nightwing's aid. "I'm here to help."

"Back off, Ray," said Nightwing. "I—I can handle this!"

WAM! A punch was landed to Nightwing's face, causing him to nearly drop to his knees.

"I told you, Bird Brain," said the biggest Mutant. "We Mutants rule this City!"

He raised his fist in the air, ready to land another hit, when his fist was stopped in mid air. He looked and saw a glowing Ray gripping his wrist.

"Play nice, young man."

"BITE ME!"

Ray's grin turned into a frown, as he gripped his wrist even harder and flung him high into the air all the way into a large truck.

Ray turned around and saw the rest of the Mutants staring at him. He charged up his body with energy and focused it into the palm of his hands.

"HAAAAA!" he shouted as he fired the blast into the rest of them, knocking them all to the ground unconscious. "Don't play nice, you get a time out."

Nightwing stood and rubbed his jaw, but made sure that the kids didn't see him. He flipped his staff, causing it to collapse. He then put it into his belt and walked over to the fallen bodies. He knelt down next to them, and then turned back over to Ray, who was now joined by Slobo, Empress, Secret and Impulse.

"Oh man," said Nightwing shaking his head. He then stood up and walked away. "Might as well come along."

"Now were we hot, or were we HOT?" asked Impulse.

"I'm leaning towards STEAMING!" exclaimed Slobo.

Nightwing had lead the group of crime-fighters to his hideout, an old abandoned hideout full of large metal gears hanging around with a large super computer in the center of the hideout. Empress stood while the others sat down on old metal chairs, disgusted by the old hideout.

"When's the last time this place was cleaned?" she asked, in her usual snotty tone.

Nightwing quickly shot a sharp glare at her. "Ummm, not that it needs one. I mean, it has charm. In a bat-cave sort of way."

Nightwing ignored her ignorant comment and sat down on his large metal chair and spun it around to face the kids.

"Why do you like to make things harder for me?" he asked. 

"But Nightwing," began Ray. "Why won't you let us take up where you guys left off? Jump City needs some new heroes ever since you guys stopped the whole crime-fighting thing. Ever since that, the Mutants came out of nowhere and started taking over the streets, and that's why we came together to stop them and protect our home."

"If you ask me," whispered Slobo, "someone's a little upset 'cause we stole the spotlight."

"Agreed," said Impulse.

Nightwing shot another powerful glare at the two heroes, as they quickly looked away and pointed at one another.

"You guys don't need such a responsibility as guarding this city on your own. We tried a long time ago, and now look where we are. That doesn't need to happen again."

"And it won't Nightwing," said Ray. "You just saw that we have what it takes. We could totally be your sidekicks."

"WHOA!" said Empress. "Sidekicks? Empress doesn't do sidekick."

"I have to agree with Empress," said Secret. "We could totally handle the job. The mutants don't stand a chance."  
"You guys don't even have a name," said Nightwing standing up. "And don't even think about calling yourselves 'Teen Titans'. It's been done."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Impulse. "Teen Titans is old anyway. No offense."

"So what are you going to call yourselves?"

"Just call us…" began Ray. "Ummm—just call us—actually, I have no idea what to call us, but it's being worked on."

"Okay can we PLEASE get out of here?" asked Empress. "All the dust and mildew is getting to me."

"Don't mind her," said Slobo. "She's just mad 'cause she's dateless for the 5th consecutive week in a row." 

"I'm going to ignore that, for the simple fact that it's not true!"

"Now I see why the Ol' man told me never to have kids," said Nightwing to himself. "Alright. If you 5 really want to prove yourselves to men, here's how you'll do it: I have business to handle. The Mutants have a boss, and he's planning something. The reason why I was out there fighting them was to protect my hideout; my secret hideout had been revealed to them, and they were coming to take it from me, so I had to stop them. But I just know there's more to the plan than that, so I'm going out to find out what's going on. You will stay here and make sure nothing happens. I want to come back and meet my place in one piece. That means if the Mutants don't attack this place, there should be no excuse for it being destroyed when I get back."

Nightwing turned around and walked away. Before walking out the exit, he turned back to them. "Ray, I'm leaving you in charge. Don't screw up." He then left.

Everyone glared at Ray in jealousy, especially Empress.

"Don't think that this means you're the leader of our little group, Ray," warned the fiery young girl.

Ray ignored the comment. In fact, he ignored the world around him. He was too shocked by what Nightwing had said. Ray was appointed leader by Nightwing, one of the greatest heroes he knew. He would make sure he wouldn't let him down.

"So. You mean to tell me that the whole lot of you couldn't defeat one hero with not a single power of his own?" asked a dark cloaked figure who sat in a large chair in a dark concealed cave. In front of him stood what was left of the Mutants; the rest having been sent to jail.

"But, boss, he…"

"Silence. I don't want to hear it. Not a word. Is it so hard for a gang of thugs to flood the streets, take out a washed up hero who might still be a formidable opponent but washed up nonetheless, then storm to his hideout, deactivate the defense mechanisms by cutting the wires and or shutting them off with the pass code that you IMBECILES should've acquired long ago, destroy the place and clear everything out, allowing me to make my final move which would place me one step closer to taking over this city?"

The Mutants looked over at each other, scratching their heads.

"Uhhh…"

"IT'S RHETORICAL!" and as this man's voice boomed throughout the cave, bats zoomed in and surrounded the Mutants. "You should thank the Heavens that I am lenient. Now get out of my sight and don't return until you have the hideout cleared. Is THAT clear?"

The Mutants nodded as they all hugged one another, fearing the large demonic looking bats.

"That's very good. Now go."

"Dude," said Impulse, spinning around in Nightwing's chair. "There's got to be a law on being this bored."

"There is," said Slobo, who was standing on his head with his arms crossed. "I'm pretty sure that it was passed along with the 'Laws of Physics'." Slobo then flicked his thumb, causing it to catch on fire, though it didn't faze him.

"Yeah, those have been thrown right out the window," said Empress, rolling her eyes at Slobo's fiery thumb. "Ray! I'm seriously bored here. When are we going to get some action?"

"Calm down, Empress," said Ray, who stopped Impulse's spinning chair, causing the young speedster to go flying over to the wall. Ray sat down on the chair and held his chin. "We don't need any action now. Nightwing wants us to watch over his home, and that's what we're going to do. We don't want to mess this up."

"Why do you think tall, dark, and gloomy is so—well dark and gloomy?" asked Slobo, still watching his flaming thumb.

While the others sat around pondering questions, Secret was looking through a shelf of books belonging to Nightwing. One book in particular caught her attention. It read "FOR MY EYES ONLY". Secret, being the curious girl she is, opened the book, and a group of pictures fell out. She bent down and grabbed them and began to look at one of them, which was covered in dust. It was a picture of Robin and some girl, but it was soo dusty she couldn't tell.

"Who is this?" she asked herself. Just as she was about to wipe off the dust, the entire hideout became blackened by darkness. "Ummm, hello? Guys?"

"Secret!" called Ray. Just then, Ray's entire body was covered in light energy as he lit up most of the room. "We're over here."

"What's going on?" asked Impulse as he stood close to the others.

"Stand your guard, guys," said Ray. "This could get ugly."

BAM! BAM! BAM! The large metal sliding door was broken down as a large group of Mutant thugs swarmed inside, most of them holding ripped up wires and cables in their teeth.

"Told you," said Ray, as the young heroes were then surrounded by all the Mutants.

"Well looky here," said the lead Mutant. "I didn't expect to find you guys here again. This time, you won't win."

"ATTACK!" commanded Ray, as his teammates leaped into battle.

Secret morphed into her 'Ghastly' form and rose into the air next to a large spinning gear.

"First mistake," said Secret. "Breaking in here!" Secret sent a blast powerful gust of smoke to the gear, so powerful it knocked it down, causing it to fall flat on top of a group of Mutants. "Second mistake: Messing with us!"

"SECRET!" shouted ray, holding back more thugs. "Try to keep this place in piece!"

"Oops! Sorry!"

"HYAI!" shouted the Mutants as they lifted the gear off of them and hurled it for Secret. Luckily, the gear went through her, but instead it went heading for Empress.

"Oh no!" Empress quickly teleported herself away, now giving the gear a new course: Slobo.

WAM! It crashed into the small gray skinned hero.

"So much for your friend!" laughed the head Mutant. Just then he was blasted back into a wall by one of Ray's light blasts.

"So much for you."

"GRAAAHHHHH!" shouted Slobo as he punched the gear off of him. Empress then teleported to his side.

"Are you okay, Slobo?"

Slobo ignored her question and merely rubbed his nose as he slowly walked over to the Mutants in front of him.

They all leaped for him, but it was no use as Slobo blocked here and there, tossed here and there, broke here and there. Slobo was then surrounded by five weakened bodies.

Impulse speeded past all of the Mutants and ran circles around them, faster and faster and faster.

And faster and faster.

And faster.

And faster.

Soon, the speed of his movement created a large cyclone of wind around the Mutants, sending them flying about the room in to various objects, especially the book shelf.

"CAREFUL!" shouted Ray, still fending off the rest of them.

The fallen ones stood up and surrounded Empress, who had pulled out her bronze staff for protection.

"TAKE OUT THESE RUNTS!" shouted one of the Mutants.

"Runts?" said Empress. "Do I look small, sweet, and edible to you?"

"I wouldn't mind takin' a bite outta her!"

"Boys," Empress said as she began teleporting here and there, smacking the thugs over their heads and thrusting her staff into chests. But they wouldn't stay down. Empress placed her staff in an upright position on the ground, as she then began to spin around it, kicking her legs at the Mutants and knocking them out. "Like a cup of coffee: hot, black and strong!"

Just then, a large Mutant thug lifted up a fallen gear and raised it above Empress's body. Before it could be let go to flatten her, Ray blasted the thug away, while Slobo came and caught the gear with his brute strength and tossed it aside.

"That was sure lame," said Slobo.

"How many times do I have to say careful?" asked Ray as he then ran off to take care of more mutants.

"THAT'S IT, MUTANTS!" shouted the lead Mutant. "TEAR THIS PLACE APART!"

"You have to get past me!" Ray then glowed with powerful force as he then began firing multiple blasts left and right at the enemies, sending them flying backwards to the ground. "It's over. You…"

"LOSE!" shouted the lead Mutant from behind Ray. Just as the young hero whipped his body around, he was slapped across the face all the way to the computer, cracking the screen and electrocuting his body. "I told you, runts…" The large thug grabbed Ray and tossed him back into the computer screen. "The Mutants…" He slammed Ray into the keyboard. The other heroes were ready to help their teammate out. "RULE!"

"RAY!" screamed Secret as she began to morph into her ghastly form.

"N-no, Secret!" said Ray. "Stay—stay back. I'll h-handle this."

"But…"

"You heard him!" shouted the Mutant as he flung him into the wall away from the computer. He turned around, his back facing the large cracked screen and stood there. "He wants to go down alone, right."

Ray's hands slowly began to glow again as he gritted his teeth, nearly wanting to break them. That's when the light energy transformed into the shape of a small saber.

"Oh now what are you going to do with that?" asked the Mutant. "It's over! We Mutants are invincible! We're incredible! We're…"

"Through." Ray's small light saber extended with immense power, causing it to stretch all the way to the side of the room, nearly touching Impulse's face. Ray quickly swiped it across, the blade headed straight for the Mutant.

"Use the force," said Impulse, shielding his eyes from the light. "Use the force."

Empress and Slobo rolled their eyes at the comment and watched to see what was happening.

The Mutant quickly ducked his head, causing the blade to miss and instead slice through the large computer screen. The blade then vanished as Ray was out of energy.

"HA! MISSED! I told you that it was no use. You and your friends are…"

The Mutant's words were cut off as he saw Ray's finger pointing behind him. He turned around him, and saw the large computer screen tower over him as it then fell over his body.

Slobo lifted the computer off of the enemy, and the young heroes stood over the fallen foe.

"Ugh," groaned the Mutant leader. "Ugh, my head."

"Well that was one heck of a party!" shouted Slobo as he crossed his arms. "What do we do with these guys?"

"I think these guys are the least of our worries," said Secret, looking around. The entire hideout was in shams. "I don't think Nightwing will…"

"Ahem," coughed a voice from behind. Everyone turned around and saw Nightwing standing at the doorway with his arms crossed.

Slobo, Empress, Impulse and Secret all stepped back from an unaware Ray, leaving him to be scolded by Nightwing.

"Hehehe," laughed Ray.

The authorities had arrived and began taking away the Mutants to jail. And Nightwing stood over his fallen books, and picked up the one that read "FOR MY EYES ONLY". The pictures had fallen out and were all torn apart. He then gritted his teeth. He then looked back at the kids who were all looking away whistling, except for a guilt ridden Ray.

Nightwing then got rid of his angry face, and stared at them.

"Well guys, I left you my home to protect it and leave it in one piece. And now, I'll have to glue back together everything that made it a one piece. On the other hand, you did stop the Mutants, but you ruined my home; you did prove yourselves as young heroes (in a way), but you ruined my home; you came out okay (at least 4 of you did), but you ruined my home."

"I know," said Ray. "It was my responsibility to keep this place intact; you put me in charge, and I let you down. I'm sorry."

"And incidentally, you 5 did well, really well—though you ruined my home. And now you guys are going to have to pay up…"

"You know," said Impulse, nervously. "I'm not really with these guys. They kept me here against my will. Please have mercy on…"

"By working for me," said Nightwing, cutting off Impulse's plea.

"Say what?" asked Empress.

"You mean you accept us now?" asked Secret, clapping her hands in joy.

"For now. I'll mold you guys into the perfect team of young heroes, filling in the gap my team left. I'll be your mentor and we'll see how this works out. But you must follow my orders, which will be given to you through your new team leader, Ray."

"You've gotta be kidding me," said Empress in envy.

"Awesome!" said Ray. "That's just cool with us."

"Alright!" shouted Impulse. "Watch out bad guys and evil doers, here come the Youths of Justice!"

"Youths of Justice?" said Nightwing. "Catchy. Still need a team name?"

"Way ahead of you, Nightwing," said Ray. "Call us…Young Justice!"

And at that, the 5 young heroes all raised their fists in the air, ready for anything that comes their way.

"Young Justice," said a dark shadowy figure from his throne in the dark cave. "Nice ring. Just maybe these kids stand a chance against me. But I won't wait and see if they can. It stops here…"


	2. After Dark

**Young Justice**   
These kids don't worry about changes…they MAKE them…  
Chapter 02  
After Dark

"RRAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" growled the large stone like monster known as Gargoyle. He stood tall a muscular with his large extended wings. He stood surrounded by dozens of destroyed property; cars, benches, sidewalks, shop windows, and everything else in the area.

The streets were empty. Everyone was inside their homes or somewhere else; far away from the city. In some people's eyes, they were lucky.

Gargoyle looked around, as if he were awaiting some one. Or someones.

"Humph," he said, upset at the fact that all his efforts were in vain.

Just then, he spotted something out the corner of his eyes. He quickly turned his direction to his right, and spotted two people hiding in a dark corner of an alleyway. He smiled a devilish smile and walked closer to the two. 

As he got closer, he could feel them shivering and shaking in pure terror and fear. He could feel it so.

It was two girls in the corner. One older than the other.

"Oh no," they said, closing their eyes and expecting the worse.

Gargoyle reached his hand in the corner and grabbed the youngest girl and held her up to his face by her hand.

"If this doesn't get the attention of those brats, then I don't know what will…"

BLAM! Gargoyle froze in his place as he felt small objects collide with his back and explode on contact. He turned his head around to see who it was, though he already had an idea.

"Somehow that one missed that big head of yours," said the heroic Nightwing as he held his staff in one hand, and his Birdarangs in his other hand. "This one won't."

"You looking for a quick bite," said the teen hero Ray, as his hands began to glow bright yellow, "then eat this! Young Justice, GO!"

"About time," said Gargoyle as he dropped the girl. Her older sister quickly grabbed her and the two ran off for their dear lives. Gargoyle turned around and saw the team known as Young Justice, along with their mentor Nightwing, charge for him. He quickly reached behind his back, and pulled out a large black envelope, freezing the team dead in their tracks.

"What the…?" exclaimed Empress as she and the others eyed the envelope. 

"Take it," said Gargoyle. Ray looked at the envelope and then back at the enemy. He was very skeptic on whether to take it or not. "Come on, kid, I don't got all day."

Ray quickly snatched it and looked at his mentor.

"Now that that's been taken care of, goodbye," and then Gargoyle extended his long wings, and took flight.

"HEY!" shouted Slobo jumping up and down, frantically. "What's going on here? What, no fight? Where's the fist flying, foot stomping, head bashing, back breaking fight we came for? THIS ISN'T FAIR!"

Gargoyle merely looked back and grinned.

"Another time, children. Another time."

Slobo stood their scratching his head, and then looked back at his teammates. He quickly turned back to Gargoyle.

"Umm—yeah! YOU BETTER RUN YOU—YOU—umm—YEAH!"

"Nice, Slobo," said a sarcastic Empress. "That's telling him."

"Shut up."

"So what's it say, Ray?" asked Secret, as she stood next to Ray and Nightwing, who both were examining the envelope.

"Could be a trap," answered Ray.

"Better let Slobo open it," said Empress.

"SHUT UP!"

"I'LL open it," said Nightwing as he snatched the envelope out of Ray's hand. He quickly pulled the clip off and cautiously pulled out a large mauve paper with writing all over it. "It—it looks—an invitation."

Nightwing was right. It was an invitation.

"What's it say?" asked Secret, leaning closer. Now everyone was surrounding the invitation, except for Impulse.

"Hey I wanna see!" he said popping up here and there, trying to get a good look.

"It says 'Dante's Inferno! Jump City's newest, HOTTEST night club! Music, dancing, games, partying all around! Playing tonight: The Outsiders! Come on down and have the time of your life at Dante's Inferno!" read Nightwing.

"A night club?" asked Ray. "All this was done for an invitation to a night club. Someone sure went through a lot of trouble."

"Sounds like trap if you ask me," said Empress, crossing her arms.

"Yeah," added Slobo. "…Let's go!"

"I don't think it would be smart to do so," said Secret. "But it's up to Ray if we go or not."

"No," Nightwing said quickly.

"But Nightwing," Ray replied. "I mean, why not? Why can't we go? If it is trap, then we could at least find out who set it up for us. What if it's the same guy who sent the Mutants to your hideout?"

"Then I'LL take care of it. I'm your mentor, so you all listen to me. Meaning when I say stay put, I mean stay put."

"But…" said Secret.

"No," Ray replied again. "He's right. We have to listen to him. We all agreed to be a team under his wing, and that's what we'll do."

"I didn't," said Slobo, crossing his arms.

"Then you can leave." Nightwing shot a cold glance at the young hero. "We'll head home, and we'll leave the discussion at that."

And at that, Nightwing walked off, followed by the others.

"Why do you let him boss us around like this?" whispered Empress to her leader.

"Yeah," added Impulse. "It's your team. You're leader, not him. He's just a baby-sitter."

"Sorry guys," said Ray, hanging his head down. "It's just, ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be a hero just like Nightwing. And now that I have the chance to work with him, I don't want to screw that up. I'll do whatever he tells me."

Secret walked up next Ray and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Its okay, Ray," she said, with a reassuring smile. "I understand."

"So, Gargoyle," said a dark figure from his large chair from within a large office room with a large glass window, "Did they get the message?"

"Of course," said a kneeling Gargoyle. The large behemoth knelt in front of the dark figure's office table.

"Good work," the figure replied. "I think tonight will be our night. It might be a while before they arrive here; I know this, so go out Gargoyle and have a good time."

Gargoyle nodded and walked off into the darkness.

"Everything seems to be going according to plan. All I need is Little Bird Blue to show up with Young Justice, and then everything will be set."

As he sat in his large chair, dozens of large bat like creatures flew to his side, as he slowly began to stroke them.

"Huh?" said Ray as he shot up from his bed after hearing the sound of his bedroom's sliding door. He saw the door slide back closed, and then looked at his roommates', Slobo and Impulse, whose beds were empty. "Why am I not surprised?"

Slobo, Impulse, Empress and Secret all crept down the hallway as quiet as possible.

"I still don't think this is a good idea," whispered Secret.

"You gotta live it up sometimes, Secret," said Empress.

"Pipe down before we get caught," said Slobo as he led them towards the exit.

"Wait," said Empress. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to have Impulse drag us out of here with his super speed?"

Impulse and Slobo froze and then looked at each other.

"You just love to make me feel dumb, don't you?" asked Slobo to Empress.

"Ahem."

"Darn it," said Impulse as he quickly whipped his head around, along with the others, only to see their leader Ray standing right behind them.

"You guys can't go to that club," said Ray, with his arms crossed. "Nightwing said so."

"But you're the leader, Ray," said Empress. "Much to my dismay."

"Then I say you can't go."

"He ain't the boss of me," said Slobo as he turned right back around to go leave. "You comin' Impulse?"

The young speedster turned to Ray with a sad face. "Sorry, Ray."

"I'm coming, too," added Empress.

Ray stood there with a shocked face. He then turned to Secret, who had an even sadder face.

"I gotta live it up sometime," she said as she turned around. "Please don't be mad." 

"Go on," said Ray with a frown. "You guys can go ahead. Just come back in one piece. Be careful."

Everyone looked at Ray and then headed for the door. Secret looked back at Ray who stood there with his head hung low.

After a long bus ride downtown, the four finally found themselves in front of the nightclub Dante's Inferno.

Surrounding the club were large lights, dozens of cars, and a long line that stretched all the way across the street. Guarding the door, of course, were two large gray skinned bouncers.

"Cousins of yours?" joked Impulse.

"Funny. How're we gettin in?" Slobo asked.

Empress and Secret both stared at each other and then at the two boys. "Bye."

Secret then transformed into her ghastly form and passed underground, while Empress teleported herself away.

"Girls," Slobo said.

Impulse then grabbed Slobo's arm and vanished as he took off in super speed, along with his teammate.

The four all made it inside of Dante's Inferno, and were amazed by what they saw. Dark red lights everywhere, a large disco ball in the ceiling, a large stage with the band The Outsiders performing on, and endless dancing!

"With all these people here," said Empress, "it doesn't really seem like a trap to me. But we should still stay on our toes."

"PARTY TIME!" shouted Impulse and Slobo as they began to rock to loud beat of the band.

The two girls looked at each other and began to dance as well, enjoying themselves.

From up inside of the office above dance floor, a dark figure stared out of his large window and looked down at his club's progress. Everyone was still dancing hypnotically to the music, and this pleased him. And then he saw them. The four members of Young Justice right there. But he noticed that Nightwing was not there.

"Humph," said the figure. "I invite six people, mainly one, and they don't even want to show up together. How rude. But maybe I can use this to my advantage."

As he talked, above him glowed large, red beady eyes.

As Slobo and Empress danced on and on, Slobo had accidentally bumped into a nearby dancer.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "Watch where you're danc—ing…" Slobo's sentence trailed off as he stared at the dancer. He noticed that his skin, too, was gray skinned. He looked behind him at the others, and saw the same.

"What is this?" asked Empress. "A Slobo Convention?"

"Normally, I'd take that as an insult, but this is TOO weird."

Just then, all of the dancers, including the band players' eyes began to glow red. They all stopped dancing and turned towards the members of Young Justice. Impulse and Secret then ran over to their teammate's side, and they all stood back to back, surrounded by all of the gray skinned, red eyed, zombie like people.

"Umm," began Secret. "I'm REALLY not liking this convention."

As the kids were surrounded by the club dancers, large bat like creatures dropped down from the ceiling and covered the kids…

Ray paced back and forth in the main room in front of the entrance door, awaiting their arrival. He'd been doing so for the past 4 hours.

"Please let that be one heckuva club," he said, as nervous as ever.

"For you sake," said a dark voice from behind, "it'd better be."

Ray whipped around, and saw that it was Nightwing.

"I can't believe you let them go," said Nightwing. He stood next to Ray on top of a building across the street from Dante's Inferno. "You don't call the shots. I do."

"But…"

"No 'buts', Ray. You all agreed that you'd work under me; my commands. Step out of line, and then it's over. Like that."

"But…"

"What did I just say? What if they're in trouble? What if they don't make it out of there?"

"Then I'll take care of it," Ray replied quickly before his mentor could continue. "I'm leader. No matter what you say. You may be the mentor, but it's my team. MY team. MY shots. And I screwed up, and as leader, it's my duty to make up for that and save my team, whether under your wing or not." Ray then began to walk forward, ready to head for the club, when he stopped. "You know, I always wanted to be like you. I could never do much as a kid, but when I saw you and your team doing things that only I DREAMED about, I envied you. I wanted to be like you. And for some reason, I still do. And I'm going to prove myself one way or another!"

Just then Ray leaped down from the rooftop glowing with bright yellow energy that allowed his drop to shift into a float down to the ground. He then ran across the street towards the club.

"He's gonna get hurt!" Nightwing then leaped down and ran after his tutee. The two made it up to the front door two see the large gray bouncers holding back the crowd of teens eager to get into the club. The bouncers then threw back a whole lot of them, leaving Nightwing and Ray in front of the two large bouncers.

"You creeps lost?" asked one of the bouncers, cracking his knuckles.

As Ray stared at him, he noticed a bat like creature attached to the back of his neck, along with the other one.

"I stand corrected," said Nightwing as he whipped out his staff, "THEY'RE gonna get hurt."

Nightwing and Ray both walked into the night club, leaving behind them the fallen bodies of the defeated bouncers. But as soon as they stepped foot inside, they found themselves surrounded by all of the clubbers, including the four missing members of Young Justice, who all had a bat like creature attached to their backs.

"Guys?" said Ray as he backed up.

"No doubt this Dante character is behind this," said Nightwing.

Ray stared at his teammates and then up at a large window that concealed a dark figure that watched everything that was happening below. Ray could feel the eyes burn through his body, and yet, they were calling him.

"Up there!" shouted Ray. "It's him! I'm going up there!"

"Ray! WAIT!" Nightwing's call was useless. Ray had already used his energy to hover over the zombie dancers and towards the stairs that would lead him upstairs. "Oh yeah, he's grounded."

"Well bring it on, Pops!" said Slobo as he grew closer to Nightwing.

"…Pops? Okay then. You asked for it."

BLAM! The large metal door that led into the large office room was blasted off by Ray's attack. The teen superhero walked in slowly, and saw the man standing at the window, looking down at the fight.

"So, I'm guessing you're Dante, huh?" asked Ray.

The figure turned around, revealing he had long blood red hair, and a dark colored leather outfit. But still, his face could not be seen well enough. 

"You are correct," answered the man known as Dante. "And you are 'The Ray' I presume."

"No, I'm the jolly green giant. Now what's going on here?"

"Nothing my young boy, nothing at all. It's just a club. We're just having a good time. Why not join in on the festivity? It will relieve all stress."

Ray did not move; he stood his ground, awaiting Dante to make a move. Just then, he looked up, and saw the ceiling SWARMING with red eyed winged creatures.

"What—What are they?"

"They're what made this place. They're what made me…ME."

"You're not human, are you?" asked Ray.

"Yes…" Dante then stepped out of the shadows, revealing his face to the young hero…and at the same time, revealing the wings he had on his back. "And no. You see, Ray, these creatures, they called out to me. I was nothing but a lost and lonely soul in the dark, but when I found this place, this Inferno, and the creatures, they helped me. They gave me what I wanted. I wanted to feel alive again, and have power. It was given to me. They fed off of my pain and misery and woe. Darkness. They grew stronger, and the more they did this, the more I became like them."

Dante then slowly walked around Ray, eyeing him and smiling a devilish grin.

"And then I thought 'Why not share this with the world?'. Surely they would want in on this. So I made Dante's Inferno. Here I call out to all the lonely forgotten souls of Jump City. I help them. This is Justice. My Justice. I help them. And they help me."

"Help you what?"

"Do whatever I want. You see down there?" The two stared out the window and down at the fight, seeing Nightwing being overpowered by all of the clubbers and Young Justice. "They're doing what I want right now. They're obeying my word. They will do whatever I want."

"There's gotta be more to it than that."

"But of course there is. Be patient, my boy. With them under my command, I can get whatever it is I want from them, secret bank accounts, useful code words and numbers, all I can use for myself."

"That's why you wanted Nightwing. He knows all sorts of things about Jump City, everything would be useful to you."

"Exactly. My you are a clever boy. I want to gain even more power. And then when that goal is reached, I can share my goal with all, rule Jump City and make them like me. Don't you want to be like me, Ray?"

"Never," he said. "Never. I already want to be like someone. AND IT'S NOT YOU!"

Ray then charged up with energy, and swung his fists rapidly at Dante. But to his dismay, every attack he threw, Dante dodge with little effort. He made it seem like child's play.

"See? You can't even land a single punch on me. But with my help, you can. I will make you stronger, faster, better."

"You're going down, Dante!"

"Suit yourself." Dante then extended his large wings, and slapped ray on the back of his head with it, knocking him threw the glass window and to the ground.

Ray landed with a loud thud. He could hardly feel his body. He was feeling weaker.

"RAY!" shouted a defeated Nightwing. Surrounding him were the four members of Young Justice.

"Ugh," Ray said as he managed to get up on his feet. "Don't worry—Nightwing. I'll prove myself to you. Dante doesn't stand a chance."

"I don't, do I?" asked Dante from the broken window. "Look at your friends. They've all chosen my way of justice. And Nightwing's next."

Ray looked over to his mentor and saw that Impulse grew closer to his neck with a winged creature.

"It's over, Ray. Join me. Join me and we can rule Jump City."

Ray looked around. He was surrounded and there seemed like there would be no escape. He then looked up and saw MORE bat creatures hanging from the ceiling. He then looked at his hands. He knew what he would have to do.

"These things feed off of darkness, huh?" asked Ray as he powered up his hands. "WELL LET ME LIGHTEN THINGS UP!"

Ray's hands glowed the brightest glow they could, causing everyone, including him, to shield their eyes.

"NO!" shouted Dante. "The LIGHT!"

All of the creatures around were blinded by the light, and weakened as well. They all came crashing down to the floor, falling off of everyone's body and the ceiling. They were defeated.

The light slowly began to dim, as Ray looked around, weakened from the attack. He saw all of the clubbers all laying on the ground, rubbing their heads and wondering what had happened. He looked over to Nightwing who stood up and looked at the other members of Young Justice, all of them who also stood up rubbing there heads.

"Man what happ…" began Impulse. "DANTE! I forgot. Where is he, we can take him. Wait. He was the bad guy, right?"

"Yeah," said Ray as he walked over to his teammates.

"Where is he?" asked Secret. "Is he…"

"No," he answered. Ray looked around and noticed that Dante was nowhere to be seen. "People like that don't go away…"

"They come back stronger," finished Nightwing. "And when he returns, we'll be ready. But until then, let's go home."

The team all shrugged and turned around, heading for the door, when Ray was stopped by Nightwing.

"I used to be like you," he said. "I looked up to someone and wanted to be just like him. Don't know whatever happened to that dream. But, I want to say sorry. You were right; it's your team, and your calls. Just next time, don't let something like this happen again."

Ray cracked a smile and the two headed out the door.

As they left, they did not notice Dante reappearing in the aftermath.

"Big mistake, Ray. Big mistake…"


End file.
